


Heavy Expectations and Gentle Corrections

by Raaj



Category: Bravely Default (Video Game) & Related Fandoms
Genre: F/M, heavy discussion of Tiz and Egil's relationship, not quite shippy, slight AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-10
Updated: 2017-04-10
Packaged: 2018-10-17 01:22:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,182
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10583478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raaj/pseuds/Raaj
Summary: Tiz doesn't quite understand what he did to cause Egil to run away; Agnès tries to explain it to him as they both search for the boy.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: "It's all my fault." Happened to find the old fill I'd done on tumblr and I still like it, so I figured I'd post it here. Because chapter 3 is a little funny with Tiz and Egil (and the specter of Til).

“It’s all my fault,” Tiz said, his tone heavy as he leaned back against the wall.  "I shouldn’t have asked him to go with us.  He can’t have gone far yet…but…where?“  He tugged a little on his hair as he thought.  "And what should I say to him?”

Agnès frowned.  While she felt a little more at ease about her mission, having gained a stronger trust in her companions, she was still well aware they did not have the luxury of time.  That went doubly so in the case of finding a runaway—Ringabel did not think Egil would run far, and Agnès was inclined to agree, but the fact of the matter was the boy had surprised them more than once, and even if he remained in Hartschild, there was the possibility of something happening to him while he had no guardian.  The sooner they found him, the better, and for that Tiz needed to get moving.  ”You can start with an apology,” she tried to prompt him.  ”The important thing is we find him.”

Her words were successful as far as they got Tiz to nod and straighten up, but she didn’t miss his wince, or how he kept looking away from her.  She mulled over the situation as she followed him out to the street, keeping both eyes open for the headstrong little boy.  Ah… as a friend, perhaps she was supposed to console Tiz, rather than confirm he had made a mistake?  He had already had to face Eleanor’s unhappiness over Egil vanishing during the night.  The woman hadn’t been entirely happy with Tiz’s idea of bringing the boy to Caldisla to start with, and now that Egil seemed to have panicked and hid himself over it, her usually pleasant demeanor was curt when speaking to Tiz, and openly fretful otherwise.  Tiz hadn’t meant for this to happen, of course.  But…

Agnès bit her lip.  No.  As a friend, she should be honest with Tiz.  He had been honest with her about when her conduct was less than considerate.  ”I know you asked him with good intentions, Tiz.  You want to help both him and Karl.  But Egil is just a little boy.  He grew up in Hartschild—”

“And this would uproot him,” Tiz finished.  "He doesn’t know what Caldisla is like beyond what I’ve told him.“  Eleanor had already said as much, and Agnès quietly squeezed Tiz’s hand.  She didn’t like making him more upset about this; she could already hear the tears in his voice, though he was keeping them down.  She just wanted to help him understand.  Tiz tended to think the best of the people he liked.  Sometimes he seemed to think the world of them.  And she knew how encouraging that could be, with him expecting her to succeed in her duties as vestal and always, always backing her.  She’d found comfort in how much he believed in her.  But she also knew… how intimidating that level of belief and expectation could be when she didn’t feel that grounding support with it.  "I just don’t understand.  He said he wanted to before.  Why not tell me he changed his mind?  Have I done something to make him think I’d be angry?”

…Tiz really was blind to the way he could affect people sometimes.  Agnès shook her head, tugging him down an alley.  Perhaps Egil was just lying low, in a hiding spot fit for a child.  She had given the acolytes a few fits in such a manner as a vestaling, and she scanned the crates to make sure they weren’t overlooking him.  ”Not angry.  Of course not.  Just your disappointment would hurt so much.  When you consider how we met him, Tiz—you’ve already saved his life twice over, if not more.  Would you be able to refuse a request from someone like that, if you owed them so much?”  That much Eleanor knew, and Agnès was certain the woman felt Tiz had been irresponsible in making such a request because of it.

But Agnès also knew that Tiz tried his hardest to be responsible for them all, that this line of thought simply hadn’t occurred to him, as proven when his mouth fell open a little.  ”Oh.  I never meant—he’s only a child, he should be protected.  That doesn’t mean—but that’s how he sees it.”  
  


“Probably, that’s how he sees it,” Agnès confirmed with a nod.  Of course Tiz hadn’t meant that Egil should feel indebted to him.  But it was quite obvious that Egil looked up to Tiz and had a small case of hero worship—hardly difficult to figure out where that stemmed from.  It might have made Egil panic if he’d started to doubt the idea, about how he could possibly refuse Tiz face-to-face.  Running away wasn’t the right way to handle it, but he _was_ only a child. “And… he might be afraid you think this is good for him for… for the wrong reasons.”

No.  That wasn’t direct enough; she could already see the confusion in his eyes.  She was a little afraid of broaching the topic with Tiz, considering how guarded he was about it, but for Egil’s sake—because if this _was_ an issue, Tiz needed to be aware for his own sake— ”Maybe he thinks you decided living in Caldisla would have been good for Til, not him.”

By the time she registered the hurt in Tiz’s eyes, he’d already pulled his hand back from hers and stepped back.  She didn’t try to reach out to him again.  She was all too aware how tender his feelings must be.  Instead she clasped her hands together to maintain an image of composure, swallowing her discomfort.

"You mean the best,” she said once more.  "I know that.  And perhaps this arrangement could still work.  But you need to understand it might not…and you need to show Egil you will be a friend to him whether it does or does not.  If he still says yes, or if he wants to change his mind and stay here.“  The boy had only just regained the chance to decide his own future.  As much as Tiz hadn’t meant to pressure him into making a choice, he very well had, and that needed to be corrected.

"…I… yes.  I’ll do that,” Tiz said slowly, looking blankly at the opening of the street.  "…Where should we go from here?“

"…I can go to the right, and you—”

“No, no,” Tiz interrupted, and now he did reach out to her, touching her elbow.  "I’m not mad at you, Agnès, and I’d rather we stay together.  I just… need to think about what I’ll say to Egil once he’s found.  I mean—I really hadn’t meant to treat him like that, but perhaps I did…?“

Agnès glanced aside at how he hung his head, quickly blinking his eyes, and lowered her hand to find his again.  ”He likes you a lot, Tiz.  I’m sure he won’t hold it against you.  Let’s hurry and find him.”

"Mm.  Okay.”


End file.
